At the 2005 GDC, Hecker delivered a rant about the balance of graphics, physics and gameplay, and now with the 360 and PS3 released, the balance is out-of-whack in favor of graphics and physics. At his 2005 speech, he posed the question " Will Nintendo save us?"

His answer in 2007?

" The Wii is a piece of shit."

Laughter and shocked applause from the developer-heavy crowd ensued, as Hecker elaborated to the tune of Public Enemy (seriously...he cranked it). Revealing the darkest secrets of the Wii manufacturing process (" Take two GameCubes and duct tape them together" ), Hecker raked Nintendo against the coals for including a " piece of shit underpowered CPU" in the Wii, and stressed that it wasn' t the graphics that are important, but how intelligent the console can be for delivering more " serious" games.

And that was the main crux of his rant -- Nintendo isn' t taking games seriously enough. Juxtaposing quotes from Sony and Microsoft PR plans (" games can be art" etc.) against Nintendo' s Eiji Aonuma (" our goal is to just make games that are fun" ), Hecker finds the latter approach " not good enough." He claims that games can be a legitimate art form in the 21st century, " it' s just ours to f*** up." Jokingly (?) threatening to rush tomorrow' s Miyamoto keynote, Hecker concluded by giving two pieces of completely unsolicited advice to Nintendo:

1) Push games as a serious art form, and 2) " Make a console that doesn' t suck ass."

One wonders how many in the development community share this opinion...

Is Hecker right or wrong?

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He' s got a point. It is underpowered, no question. Bottom line however, this machine has saved Nintendo (along with the DS) and prevented them from going the way of Sega. It was a smart business move. From a developers standpoint I can understand the frustration. Before this generation started I asked myself what I wanted from the games that were to come. A graphical upgrade (duh), Innovative gameplay and most important to me, A.I. that doesn' t resemble a mildly retarded chimpanzee.

Wii is almost certain to provide innovative gameplay but my other two desires cannot be addressed on the Wii, not to the degree they can be on the 360 or PS3.
Wii may have the casual gaming kid category locked up, but the Hardcore Gamer that can' t afford a PC rig to get there fix on will go elsewhere; hopeing for games that are legitmate and serious attempts at pushing the industry towards widespread acceptance as the new entertainment arts medium.

Who the hell' s Hecker??

but how intelligent the console can be for delivering more " serious" games

Serious Games??? WTF?

Games are supposed to be Fun not serious, thats the whole piont of taking something and turing it into a game.

If i was there, i would repeatedly GTA-style stamp on his head and show everyone the difference between a playing game and being ' serious' .

Fool.

Hah, it' s always refreshing to hear someone who is not afraid to say what they think. John Carmack has done it, Gabe Newell, and there' s also that guy from Epic, (I forgot the name of that guy.)

Before we get on the flame train to oblivion, I think this guy does have valid points. Basically, for what Hecker wants to do with his games, the Wii is completely unsuited for. I think the Wii has very much a " get back to basics" mentality behind it. Get back to the essence of a game - what makes it fun? Whereas the other two consoles have a " how far can we push the boundaries of game design?" mentality. Both have their merits. Granted, the Wiimote supposedly does push game design boundaries, but we' ve yet to see anything groundbreaking come from it. It' s certainly not a " revolution" yet.

I do agree that hardware wise, the Wii is pretty disappointing, even for a Nintendo console. I mean, I was expecting a bit more grunt too. Maybe at least a 1Ghz processor? Dual Core? Definitely some more RAM? These things wouldn' t have broken the bank at all and given a little more flexibility. As it stands now, unlike last generation, porting a 360/PS3 game to a Wii would probably mean stripping the game down a lot. I think this will hurt Nintendo and a similar situation as before (GameCube) will occur where decent 3rd party games are going to be a rarity.

Sure, there' s always going to be a place for games that are simply fun. But in order for the industry to grow, a wider audience must be accepted. Much of the gaming audience has grown up. As a result, we want grown up games. Game designers are starting to realize this, and Nintendo doesn' t seem to be doing anything about it.

edit: Chris Hecker is part of the Advisory Board for the GDC. He' s working with Will Wright at the moment on the game Spore.

Serious Games??? WTF?

Games are supposed to be Fun not serious, thats the whole piont of taking something and turing it into a game.

If i was there, i would repeatedly GTA-style stamp on his head and show everyone the difference between a playing game and being ' serious' .

Fool.

HAHAHA this guys got a point. But I laugh at ppl who dont understand that nintendo can have simplicity and great gameplay at the same time. Nintendo wants to attract less serious gamers, and to do that they must create a console that dosent have an overwhelming amount of gizmos. In a sense, the wii wasnt made to be better (though it is), it was made to be different.

People like hecker are just half retarded chimpanzees (copywright, Icarus75) that think every company is trying to make systems to THEIR specifications and dont understand there is a different crowd out there that enjoy nintendos innovations, mediocre they mayt seem to some gear heads. Theres always the Xbox and PS3 guys, the wii is there for a different choice. what would it be like with the market dominated by xbox type consoles? no variety! t

Those of you calling wii sh**, your only saying that because its not ur type of console, so go buy an xbox and shut ur *@#% mouth! im sick of hearing from ignorant people like that!!!

I just like to remind everyone that Nintendo on two occasions used superior Graphical power to achieve console dominance and both attempts failed miserable (N64 + 4mb upgrade failed against ps1, GC failed against ps2). They tried a different approach (ala DS vs psp - less graphical power) and succeed beyond there own expectations. THey admitted that the DS was the testing ground for Wii - hence the emphasis of unique gamplay over graphics.

THis clown is entitled to his opinion, he comes off as a overthetop 360 or ps3 fanboy, but to a degree he is right. It still dissapoints me that the graphics weren' t a little better, but so long as Nintendo keeps there quality games rolling i' ll still be happy.

BTW there are many developers that like the Wii and what potential it has.

No, wii is shit because its gonna be exactly like the gamecube and only have 5 decent games (Shhhh. Dont tell F3 or A_Wiiner)

As a Nintendo Spokesman said..

Most major Developers have a Wii Dev kit and Nintendo want as many as these to try and produce games of all styles and New styles too.


Wii will show the difference between the ' Good' , ' bad' and Great developers.

Suprisingly EA have shown good so far with Wii. Madden was really good on Wii and Now Wii SSX is said to be the best Version so far, due to taking good advantage of the Wii controller.

Hecker obviously does not like a challange or has very little imagination. So he basically saying he wished Nintendo' s console was another 360/PS3.. he wants three consoles to practically do the same thing? Yes Hecker this is certainly the way forawrd

Nob.

.. Master i do agree, tho, its not entirely nintendo' s fault this time round. the 3rd party need to use thier imagination allittle.

Suprisingly EA have shown good so far with Wii. Madden was really good on Wii and Now Wii SSX is said to be the best Version so far, due to taking good advantage of the Wii controller.

EA hasnt done anything good in the past 10 yrs, and the Wii version of madden was the most half done of them all

Hecker obviously does not like a challange or has very little imagination. So he basically saying he wished Nintendo' s console was another 360/PS3.. he wants three consoles to practically do the same thing? Yes Hecker this is certainly the way forawrd

I see what your saying, but what im saying is yes its different from the other two, but it doesnt have many good games. They need more games. Just like the cube did

I wants my Mario Galaxy dammit!!!

.. Master i do agree, tho, its not entirely nintendo' s fault this time round. the 3rd party need to use thier imagination allittle.

YES!!!! someone who didnt call me masta. Fuck yeah

I completely agree, infact I wish he was more harsh. Considering that the Wii is supposed to last for 5 years, it has pretty meager specs. It' s not just graphics, it' s everything. At 250$ the Wii is a complete rip off, it should be priced at 150$ and have at least 256mb of ram. When I saw the specs for Wii for the first time, I lost a lot of respect for Nintendo. I' m not buying one before the price drops to less than 200$cnd. The only reason I' m even willing to spend that muchg is because I want Smash Bros.

I don' t even consider it to be a real console, more like a cheap toy you find in a cereal box.

I completely agree, infact I wish he was more harsh. Considering that the Wii is supposed to last for 5 years, it has pretty meager specs. It' s not just graphics, it' s everything. At 250$ the Wii is a complete rip off, it should be priced at 150$ and have at least 256mb of ram. When I saw the specs for Wii for the first time, I lost a lot of respect for Nintendo. I' m not buying one before the price drops to less than 200$cnd. The only reason I' m even willing to spend that muchg is because I want Smash Bros.

I don' t even consider it to be a real console, more like a cheap toy you find in a cereal box.

The wii is cutesy! Its kinda like a girls accesory, but for boys as well, its something you pick up now and then and play with now and then. Sure there are fun games and more will be made but the problem will arise soon for gamers such as myself.

Now Zelda looks decent, games wont look much better than zelda in 5 years. But what about the games made for PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC. For major story driven games, action games rpg, atmosphere is important graphics does a lot in the department, and in 5years, putting a game into your wii, will feel like powering up your old PS1, and not for nostalgia

No, wii is shit because its gonna be exactly like the gamecube and only have 5 decent games (Shhhh. Dont tell F3 or A_Wiiner)

Nah, I think the guy had some points, but really didn' t look at the large picture. I think what you said was down right ignorant, right now Wii has more decent games than the PS3, can' t compare to 360 really.

A lot of people will get defensive and attack the Wii...because to put it most plainly...they are graphics whores...this Hecker guy sounds exactly like that.

Q2 Wii releases...

April 9 Super Paper Mario - Nintendo
April Prince of Persia Rival Swords - Ubisoft
April Bust-A-Move Bash - Majesco
April Bioncle Heroes - Eidos
May 15 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon - Midway
May 29 Mario Party 8 - Nintendo
May Tamagotchi Party On - Namco Bandai
May Disney' s Pirates of the Caribbean: World' s End - Disney
May Escape from Bug Island - Eidos
May Spider-Man The Movie 3 - Activision
June 11 Big Brain Academy - Nintendo
June 25 Pokemon Battle Revolution - Nintendo
June Cosmic Family - Ubisoft
June Spring Heatseeker - Codemasters
Summer Legend of the Dragon American - Game Factory
Summer Shrek the Third - Activision
Summer Transformers the Game - Activision

As much as i hate to say it, Wii is screwed. Aside from Twilight Princess there' s nothing i' m even remotely interested in playing either on release or due out in the next 4 months. Summer will be dead and it' d be late August/early September before anything decent hits shelves.

The irony here is that everybody (myself included) wished for more 3rd party games on Gamecube as the only great games were Nintendo made (with a few exceptions; RE4, REmake, Rogue Leader/Rebel Strike, Killer 7 etc..) ...and now everybody is waiting for more Nintendo made games. Everybody is waiting for Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3.

What we' re getting from Nintendo in the next few months are; Super Paper Mario, Mario party 8, Big Brain Academy and Pokemon Battle Revolution, and none of those will sell me the system.

Nintendo have an unbelievable chance to retake their crown in the console arena and they' re making exactly the same mistake they made with Gamecube and holding all of the big games back. As soon as " newness" of the controller wears off they' ll stop selling in large numbers and i think predictions of Nintendo being ahead by Christmas 2007 are waaay off as i suspect both PS3 and 360 will see $100 price reductions.

How about wii put this into perspective..(did you see what I did there used the Wii instead of we...)

When the Wii (Or Revolution as it was originally titled) was announced it was supposed to bring a new dimension to console gaming, it has by having the motion controllers, but when you compare to the power of the PS3 and the 360 it looks old hat, yes the graphics could look better it could have more memory, it could have this and it could have that, but for whatever reason Nintendo decided to produce their product as we see it now. The exact same could be said for the " super" consoles from Sony and M$, if they added a larger drive to the 360 and an HDMI port, if Sony didn' t lie period.

The Wii is not shit, it is what people want to make of it, Hecker is obviously not as accomplished as he makes out otherwise he would write the software to console not try to port from one system to another, try creating something new instead of the same old shit. He is obviously a one dimension person only able to concentrate on one or 2 mediums, something else comes along and he struggles.

The Wii is there to put fun back into gaming, however what they should have done is market it as an alternative to going to the gym, have any of you tried half an hour with the boxing, or the tennis? That is where it will hit the mark, women not wanting to get to the gym and have a £179.99 workout whenever as opposed to spending £40 a month on gym membership.

The Wii is obviously underpowered. Its strenght is the " innovative" Wii-mote.
Of course, the Wii-mote itself can' t make a game more advanced or closer to art, it can only affect the gameplay. So obviously, the gameplay is the only thing that will be enhanced on the Wii compared to the GCN.
The best product for us gamers would' ve been a super powerful console AND Wii-mote. However, Nintendo wants to have as big as a consumer base as possible so they chose to make a less powerful console to make it more affordable.
That' s the reason the Wii is underpowered. It' s about money. It also costs less to produce and by now we all know Nintendo makes money right from the start.

Now, the question is, did Nintendo make the right move by making the Wii so weak?
Will the Wii-mote make up for the loss in advanced gameplay?
Or would it have been better to release a powerful console + Wii-mote at a very, very high price?
I personally would' ve prefered a powerful Wii as I' m a gamer. It' s pretty clear that the Wii is not made for the hardcore gamer because then we would' ve gotten innovation as well as great graphics and physics etc.
But from a business point of view it might be better for Nintendo' s economy to go with the weak Wii, if they manage to sell more units thanks to the low price.

Only the future will tell if they made the right decision or not.

But I have to say I don' t agree when he says a more powerful console takes games closer to art. That' s up to the developers actually.
How smart the A.I. is or the physics have very little to do with the artistic values in a game, or the ideas behind its design.

I' m sorry but no.

It' s a games console, it' s not an exercise replacement and while some (Nintendo included) will push it that way through the media to try and attract more ' non-gamers' it' s not going to work out (haha, see what i did there!) like that.

Quite simply Nintendo couldn' t afford to develop a proper next-gen system to compete with Sony and Nintendo. Hell, if the market leader at over 100 million sold is having severe financial issues then how could Nintendo, a company that' s been kept afloat by successful handheld' s and the Pokemon franchise?!

What they did was tweak and re-package a Gamecube and create a new controller. Now, riding on the back of the uber-successful DS they' re pushing to attract people who haven' t traditionally been " into" gaming. But until Wii is being sold in gyms an not game stores there will be a direct correlation between Nintendo and gaming in the general publics eyes. Sales generated by tv reports and newspaper articles about the system being " healthy" will not account for a worthwhile percentage of their overall sales. It will be a minority.

Yes it' s nice to have a new input device, but Sony have adopted tilt and Microsoft will do before long. Sony and Microsoft have cameras that can be used for games and both are investing heavily in more party-like game types and retro classics through their respective arcade networks.

As soon as Microsoft and Sony drop their prices Nintendo won' t be able to compete as they' ve completely lost touch with the current gaming generation. Innovation is one thing and it' s something that Nintendo are very good at, ...and yes, we should salute them for it, ...but this industry, just like any other, is about making money. The money, incase you hadn' t realised, is not in non-gamers. At least it' s not in the West.

Japan is a completely different story and the market has changed drastically there, but it' s becoming an increasingly less and less important territory for consoles, as recognised by people like Kojima and Inafune.

I cannot foresee Wii being the huge success it was supposed to be and i can' t see it fulfilling it' s initial promise of re-vitalizing the games industry. I mean, right now we' re facing an epic battle of Snes vs Genesis proportions and that in itself will force creativity and innovation. Wii, unfortunately, will age very very quickly. I' d like to think Nintendo could hold their own but Wii burning out quickly is far more likely than it being an insane success.

There' s a reason summer blockbusters (movies) are successful y' know.

Nice pun there, I was only joking about the gym thing, my fiance wants one as she has read up about the Wii diet thing on the net.

I still stand by my point of the wii is what you make of it, as in if someone wants a wii to have fun and not be serious then they will accept the flaws, if you want a wii because you have a PS3 and a 360 and your a gadget freak you will again accept the flaws, if you are a serious gamer, then your buggered, you are right in your view of M$ and Sony dropping prices then Nintendo will be shafted, and yes I know money in the west is not in the Non-gamers, however I feel a lot of parents who are not up with Gaming knowledge will go for it for little Jimmy as it would seem the price is low compared to the 360 and the PS3 at the moment.

The jap market is and always will be a law unto themselves and nothing makes sense there, they like Blue Dragon' s ffS.